Saturday, July 13, 2013

Anime Review: Elfen Lied

The
story of Elfen Lied (Elf Song) revolves around the Diclonius, a species of
mutated homosapiens that are said to be the harbingers of man’s destruction. Due
to this threat, they have been captured, isolated, and studied in scientific
facilities. The show takes the perspective of Lucy, a Diclonius who escapes
from the laboratories and acquires amnesia on the process. The main conflict
arises as the scientific community prepares measures for her recapture.

The series
opens up with a violence and nudity that completely signify that it is not for
children. Even though these are the factors that make the anime enthusiast try
the title out, they are actually not used in the story to attract the audience.
In fact, Elfen Lied is one of those shows that really doesn’t care about its
audience. It doesn’t settle for fan service and just tells the story it wants
to tell. It just so happens that the plot really requires these rather
sensitive themes.

Sure,
the show is unique, and it makes it very refreshing to watch. There is nothing
quite like it! However, uniqueness does not necessary translate to good
storytelling. I find the pacing of the story to be really problematic, for it
frequently fluctuates between slow and fast. Aside from that, there are too few
threads to weave in the story. There is too little to hold on to, and so most
of the time the show is actually boring despite its sensitive themes.

But there
is a factor that makes up for these traits -- the story’s incorporation of
matured concepts like social alienation and the value of humanity. What makes
these concepts even more interesting is when the series starts to portray the
humanity of the Diclonius, which is especially contrasted against the inhumanity
of people. This is what really makes Elfen Lied a watchable series. It is just
so interesting to see the characters develop, as they mingle with these
concepts.

Speaking
of characters, I find some of them to be well made -- Mayu who has been molested
by her stepfather and the Diclonius Nana who sees the scientist Kurama as her
father just to keep herself sane from all the torturous experiments, in
particular. These characters are actually MOE archetypes, but not of the
annoying kind. Their MOE tendencies are effective on making the viewer
sympathetic. (As a personal opinion, Nana is the most interesting character of
the series. She is just so human that I can’t help but be concerned of her
development. She is easily the most relatable of them all).

But
the series has its fair share of bland characters as well -- Kouta and Yuka;
and you know that it’s bad when your main characters are the ones who are flat.
Their flatness, however, is understandable. They seem to be just there to offer
the viewer the main perspective of the show. But this doesn’t change the fact
that their flatness contributes greatly to why the series is boring at times.
If they have had more depth, the show could have been a lot more interesting.

I’m
not saying that the show is not entertaining. It has its moments. There is just
a lingering tendency in its depth to be overshadowed by the problematic pacing
and bland characters. It’s a good thing that Mayu and Nana are there to offer
their services as well made characters; and, the questions the show imposes are
just too thought provoking that the word interesting is an understatement. Overall,
I highly recommend this series despite its flaws. An anime enthusiast should
watch this at least once, so he would know why it is enjoying a lot of
attention from the anime community.

About The Author

You can call me Arvin Saints, but that is not my real name. I use that name in all my legitimate social media accounts. It’s not that I don’t want to directly associate myself to the cyber world. The name is simply an inside joke among my compatriots.